By: John S. Morlu II, CPA
Let’s get one thing straight, folks.
When a CEO strolls into a meeting in a tailored $10,000 suit, makes three PowerPoint slides, says “synergy” twice, and walks out with a $100 million paycheck—meanwhile Bob in Accounting is microwaving leftover spaghetti in a crusty office kitchen with a machine that last beeped with confidence during Obama’s second term—it sounds… well, criminally unbalanced. Like capitalism went to the gym, took pre-workout, skipped leg day, and injected itself with pure Wall Street testosterone.
Bob, for the record, earns $25,000 a year, pays $60 for a tank of gas, and gets paper cuts from opening emails. Meanwhile, the CEO gets stock options, executive perks, a $200K annual travel allowance to attend “stress relief summits” in the Maldives, and a bonus for surviving the fiscal year.
It feels cruel. Immoral. Like the opening scene of a Netflix documentary called “Trickle Down: The Myth That Drenched a Generation.”
But before you grab your pitchforks, call your local senator, and Occupy Boardroom 2.0, let’s pump the brakes and ask one tiny, inconvenient, economically terrifying question:
What are we actually paying for?
Let’s put it this way:
- You’re not paying the CEO to file spreadsheets or refill toner cartridges (that’s Bob’s job, and he’s still using Excel 2007).
- You’re not paying them to send emojis in Slack and disappear for “off-site leadership reflection” in Aspen.
- You’re paying for one thing, and one thing only: decisions.
And not just “chicken or beef” decisions. These are the “fire half the staff or acquire TikTok” kind of calls. The kind where being 40% right still earns you an honorary doctorate in wizardry from the University of Don’t-Die-Broke.
Because, as wild as it sounds, decision-making is a dying art. A high-stakes, high-blood-pressure, sleep-depriving, lawsuit-inviting, career-ending art form.
Here’s a fun fact:
Studies show that only 5% of people can make decisions under pressure. The rest? They schedule another Zoom call. They procrastinate so hard, their to-do list needs therapy. They say things like, “Let’s revisit this in Q3” even though Q3 is just a polite way of saying “Never.”
So before we hang CEOs in effigy next to the water cooler, let’s explore why they’re paid Monopoly money to make real-life moves—and why the biggest risk in business today isn’t failure… it’s paralysis dressed in a business casual excuse.
Buckle up. Because we’re about to take a ride through billion-dollar mistakes, tragic leadership choices, and why most people wouldn’t trust themselves to order lunch without a group chat consensus.
Decision-Making: The World’s Most Expensive Hobby (Right After Owning a Yacht or a Rare Pet Lizard)
Making decisions is hard. And not just “Do I want fries or onion rings?” hard.
We’re talking the kind of hard that makes your brain sweat. The kind of hard that gives CEOs wrinkles before their first stock option vests. This isn’t “trigonometry in a blackout” hard. It’s not even “assembling IKEA furniture without instructions while blindfolded and being yelled at in Swedish” hard.
This is:
“One wrong move and the entire company explodes, stock prices dive, 5,000 people lose their jobs, and you get a surprise invitation to testify before Congress” kind of hard.
Yeah. That kind of hard.
Let’s make it simple. You know how sometimes you stand in front of your fridge for 12 minutes trying to decide between orange juice and milk? Now imagine the orange juice is a billion-dollar merger, and the milk is firing your best friend. And you only have 10 seconds. With CNBC watching.
Welcome to CEO-level decision-making.
Google’s Gold Medal for Getting It 40% Right
In his book Measure What Matters, Silicon Valley kingmaker John Doerr casually drops this truth bomb:
At Google, if you get 40% of your decisions right, you’re basically a tech wizard.
That’s right. FORTY percent. Not 90. Not 70. Not even a coin-flip 50.
Just four out of ten decisions being non-disastrous makes you a legend. You get a corner office, free kombucha, and maybe even a meeting room named after you—“The Janice Room (where 60% of things went wrong, but we survived)”.
Fun fact: In the real world, the average adult makes about 35,000 decisions per day.
Another fun fact: Most of those are probably bad. And a final fun fact: Only 5% of people can make high-stakes decisions under pressure.
The rest? They:
- Say “Let’s circle back on that.”
- Blame the intern.
- Order coffee to stall.
- Google “How to make a tough decision and not ruin your life.”
Why Most People Shouldn’t Be Trusted to Choose a Pizza Topping
Let’s be honest. Most people struggle with basic decisions like:
- “Should I text them first?”
- “Is 2 a.m. a good time for nachos?”
- “Can I call out sick even though I just posted a beach selfie?”
So imagine trusting these same people with layoffs, product launches, or billion-dollar acquisitions. That’s why CEOs get paid the big bucks—because they’re paid to decide, even when the odds are terrifying, and the risk is one bad email away from going viral (in a bad way).
Making good decisions isn’t just rare—it’s basically a superpower.
And in the corporate world?
Indecision is the real villain.
Want to know why your boss gets paid more than your entire family combined?
Because they have to choose when nobody wants to.
They have to answer when there are no answers.
And when they mess up?
The stock crashes, the board flips, and Twitter lights up like a Christmas tree in hell.
So next time you roll your eyes at the CEO’s salary, remember:
They’re not paid for what they do.
They’re paid for deciding what to do—
…when everything could go horribly wrong.
Welcome to the Corporate Graveyard: Where Bad Decisions Go to Die (Loudly and Expensively)
So you’re still wondering: How bad can a decision really be?
Well, grab a flashlight and follow me into the dark, cold hallways of the Microsoft Graveyard and the Google Morgue—two of the most haunted places in tech. The ghosts here don’t go “boo”—they go “Oops, that cost $500 million.”
Microsoft Graveyard: A Museum of “What Were They Thinking?”
Let’s start with Microsoft—the tech giant that gave us Windows, Word, and some of the weirdest product flops known to humankind:
- The Zune (2006–2011):
Microsoft’s “iPod killer” that ended up killing nothing but hope. It came in brown. Brown. Like sadness in a rectangle. Sales were so bad, they stopped production while Apple laughed all the way to the bank. - Clippy the Paperclip (1997–2001):
The overly helpful (and mildly creepy) assistant who popped up to say, “It looks like you’re writing a letter.”
No, Clippy. I was writing a resignation. Because of you. - Windows Vista (2007):
A.k.a. the operating system that made your computer want to quit and become a toaster.
Each one of these decisions cost hundreds of millions—sometimes billions. But hey, someone decided they were a good idea at the time. Probably during a PowerPoint presentation called “Next-Gen Disruption Synergy 360.”
Google Morgue: Billion-Dollar Ideas That Died of Confusion
Now let’s stroll through Google’s morgue. You’ll notice the scent of innovation… mixed with regret.
- Google+ (2011–2019):
Google’s attempt at beating Facebook. It ended up becoming a lonely ghost town. It had more tumbleweeds than users. - Google Glass (2013):
The futuristic smart glasses that made you look like a cyborg nerd who couldn’t be trusted in public bathrooms. Privacy issues and a $1,500 price tag killed it faster than you can say “Glasshole.” - Google Wave (2009–2012):
A collaboration tool so confusing that even the people who invented it didn’t know how to use it. Think email, but with a migraine. - Google Stadia (2019–2023):
The cloud gaming service that promised to change gaming forever—then lagged so badly it changed nothing at all.
Fun Fact: Google has killed off over 280 projects, which is so many that there’s a literal website called KilledByGoogle.com tracking the body count. It’s basically an online obituary for bad decisions.
Trillions Down the Drain: Oops.
Add it all up, and we’re talking about trillions of dollars lost globally from wrong decisions—enough money to buy everyone on Earth a cheeseburger, fries, a Tesla, and still have enough left over to build a moon base just for fun.
It’s not just tech companies either:
- New Coke (1985): A soda so hated, people wrote letters. Handwritten letters. That’s how bad it was.
- Blockbuster turning down Netflix for $50 million.
Netflix now makes $50 million per episode of Stranger Things. - Yahoo said no to buying Google for $1 million.
Google now sneezes and makes $1 million in ad revenue.
Moral of the Morgue: Decisions Matter. Bad Ones Cost Billions.
If you’re ever sitting in a meeting and someone says, “This can’t possibly go wrong”—run. Don’t walk. Run like the budget depends on it. Because historically, those are famous last words right before a CFO screams into a spreadsheet.
And remember:
The CEO who made the decision to launch a total flop?
They’re the same CEO who may have also made the call that saved the company from collapse the week before.
That’s the deal: High risk, high reward, and even higher Twitter roast potential.
The CEO Lottery: It’s Not Luck—It’s Risky Roulette
Let’s break it down with some math and madness:
- CEO makes 100 million.
- Worker makes 25k.
- That’s a 4,000x difference.
- The CEO gets stock, jets, bonuses, stress ulcers, and Twitter mobs.
- The worker gets a discount at Subway (but only on Tuesdays).
Why the gap? Simple. Decisions are deadly.
A bad call by a janitor means you get streaks on the windows.
A bad call by the CEO means the windows don’t exist anymore. Along with the walls. And your retirement fund.
Let’s stroll through the CEO Mistake Hall of Fame:
- Google Wave. Google Glass. Google+. Welcome to the Google Morgue, where ideas go to die (and budgets go to burn).
- Microsoft Zune. Windows Vista. Clippy. Yes, Clippy. “It looks like you’re trying to ruin user experience… would you like help with that?”
- Quibi. WeWork. Theranos. R.I.P., unicorns that turned out to be taxidermy projects.
Trillions—yes, trillions—have vanished because someone, somewhere, in a corner office, said, “Let’s go with it.”
Colin Powell, War, and the 30% Rule: Why Perfect Is the Enemy of “Good Enough to Win”
Let’s rewind to a time when decisions weren’t just about product launches and stock prices—but actual life-or-death stuff.
Enter General Colin Powell—former U.S. Secretary of State, four-star general, and part-time philosopher of common sense. Powell once dropped a gem that most boardrooms and high school group projects still haven’t fully processed:
“If you are getting 30% of your decisions right, you’re doing just fine. America will not lose a single war.”
Thirty. Percent.
That’s like turning in a test, getting a D+, and the teacher saying, “Astonishing work, champ. You just prevented World War III.”
Why Does 30% Count as Winning?
Because decision-making at the top isn’t about always being right—it’s about being bold, being fast, and being less wrong than the other guy.
Let’s say you’re running a country. Or a Fortune 500 company. Or a very emotional group chat. You don’t have the luxury of staring into space for 9 hours trying to choose fonts and hoping divine intervention writes your email. You’ve got to move, even if you don’t have all the info.
Think about it:
- A CEO who makes 100% of their decisions correctly is called a liar.
- A CEO who makes 30–40% correctly? They’re called legendary.
- A regular person who makes 5% correctly? That’s average, and honestly, probably Bob in Accounting.
And yet, that 5% matters more than you think.
The Power of a 5% Decision: Gold in a World of Glaciers
If you’re getting just 5% of your big life decisions right—like what career to choose, who to marry, whether to reply “k” or “ok” in a breakup text—you’re already doing better than half the planet.
Most people? They spend so much time overthinking, under-deciding, and reopening old Google Docs, that their decisions look more like mood swings than strategy.
We all know someone who:
- Changes their major every semester.
- Can’t decide what to eat, so they just go to bed.
- Buys a $1,000 course and never opens it.
- Has 14 tabs open, none of which lead to action.
That’s not decision-making. That’s dithering, a sport where everyone loses.
Why CEOs Make Bank and You Get Anxiety
Let’s be clear: CEOs aren’t always smarter. But they’re willing to decide when no one else wants to.
And they’re willing to get roasted when it goes wrong.
Because here’s the kicker: Indecision is more dangerous than a bad decision.
A bad decision? You can fix.
No decision? You sit and rot.
So when your boss gets paid more than your entire college graduating class combined, remember:
They’re paid to move, not to be perfect.
To choose, not to float in spreadsheet purgatory.
To say yes (or no)—while the rest of the office debates whether to add “per my last email.”
Fun Fact Interlude (a.k.a. Trivial Reasons CEOs Deserve Their Salary)
- Elon Musk made a $44 billion decision in a tweet. Try doing that with your lunch order and see if your bank account survives.
- Steve Jobs said no to 1,000 things before saying yes to the iPhone. Meanwhile, most people can’t even say no to a second donut.
- Jeff Bezos’s laugh is so menacing it could crash markets, terrify small children, and redirect satellites. (Okay, not really… but have you heard it?)
- Indra Nooyi, former PepsiCo CEO, once had to explain to Wall Street why Pepsi was investing in healthier snacks. That’s like trying to convince a bacon cult to try kale chips. Respect.
- Warren Buffett famously bought billion-dollar companies after reading their financials scribbled on the back of an envelope. Meanwhile, you’re still trying to figure out if you can afford HBO Max and a pizza this month. Spoiler: You can’t.
Indecision: The Real Career Killer Wearing a Cardigan and Holding a “To-Do List”
Let’s talk about the real silent killer in the workplace—and no, it’s not Karen microwaving fish in the breakroom.
It’s indecision.
Yup. That sneaky, slippery little habit of “I’ll think about it.”
Of “Let’s give it another week.”
Of “We’re not ready yet.”
Also known as:
The slow, painful, beige death of ambition.
While CEOs are out there making 40% of decisions right and owning their 60% disasters with a media-trained smile, most people are stuck in neutral, clutching their LinkedIn profile like a security blanket and hoping someone else will decide what to do next.
Classic Symptoms of Indecision Syndrome:
- Rewriting the same email 7 times and still not sending it.
- Attending every meeting with zero intention of doing anything discussed.
- Asking, “What do you think?” every five minutes until the Wi-Fi cuts out.
- Starting a business plan and stopping at the mission statement. (“We strive to maybe do a thing… someday.”)
Fun fact: Studies show that people spend over 7 years of their lives just deciding what to eat.
Imagine if you spent that time learning to juggle chainsaws or inventing a decent office chair.
Inaction Is Not Strategy. It’s a Disguise for Fear.
Let’s be honest. Most indecision isn’t about “being careful.” It’s about being scared:
- Scared of failing.
- Scared of being wrong.
- Scared of being laughed at on a PowerPoint slide titled “Lessons Learned.”
So we procrastinate. We analyze. We overthink.
We make mood boards instead of moves.
We book more “alignment meetings” than a chiropractor on discount day.
But here’s the cold truth: every moment you spend avoiding a decision is a decision in itself—one that says, “I’d rather float than try.”
Meetings: Where Indecision Goes to Mingle
Let’s not forget the modern temple of inaction: the corporate meeting.
A meeting where 10 people gather to say things like:
- “We need more clarity.”
- “Let’s touch base offline.”
- “Great synergy today, team!”
Then they leave, go back to their desks, and… do absolutely nothing.
It’s like a treadmill for ideas: lots of motion, no distance covered, and everyone’s sweaty with regret.
The People Who Get Ahead? They Decide. Badly. Loudly. But They Do It.
Here’s the final gut-punch:
Most successful people aren’t the smartest.
They’re not even the most qualified.
They’re just the ones who did the thing while everyone else was still waiting for a sign from the universe.
They hit publish on the bad blog.
They launched the weird app.
They said “yes” to the deal that felt 60% risky but 100% necessary.
And even when it failed?
They learned. They adjusted.
And most importantly—they kept deciding.
So What Now?
If you’ve read this far and you’re still waiting for permission to take action, consider this it:
Make the move. Send the email. Launch the weird idea.
Worst case? You fail and learn.
Best case? You build something that Bob in Accounting will read about in Wired magazine while eating lunch from a vending machine.
Because the graveyard of great ideas is full of people who waited too long to decide.
Final Thoughts: Decisions Build Dynasties—Indecision Builds Cubicles
So here we are, at the end of this highly caffeinated tour through corporate chaos, billion-dollar blunders, and the cold, awkward truth about why the CEO gets paid in commas while you’re rationing your Wi-Fi and hoping HR forgot your birthday.
Let’s recap:
- Making decisions is hard.
Like “bet-the-company-while-being-live-tweeted” hard. But somebody’s gotta do it. - Most people don’t make decisions—they delay them, disguise them, or delegate them to the person who left the group chat first.
- A CEO is not paid to be perfect.
They’re paid to choose, move, risk, and sometimes crash—but do it with conviction. - And you?
- You don’t have to be a CEO to own your choices. You just have to stop waiting for a neon sign from the universe that says, “Now it’s safe.”
Spoiler alert: It’s never safe.
So go ahead. Make the messy decision.
Pitch the weird idea.
Send the risky email.
Buy the domain name that makes your friends raise an eyebrow.
Because here’s the golden truth:
The people who change the world aren’t the ones who know everything.
They’re the ones who finally decided to do something.
So be bold. Be wrong. Be that person who tries anyway.
Just, whatever you do—don’t be Bob, still stuck in accounting, waiting for someone else to tell him what’s next.
About the Author
John is an entrepreneur, strategist, and founder of JS Morlu, LLC, a Virginia based CPA firm with multiple software ventures including www.FinovatePro.com, www.Recksoft.com and www.Fixaars.com . With operations spanning multiple countries, John is on a mission to build global infrastructure that empowers small businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals to thrive in an increasingly competitive world. He believes in hard truths, smart execution, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. When he’s not writing or building, he’s challenging someone to a productivity contest—or inventing software that automates it.
